It's time for the annual Forest of Dean Seasonal Area picture again. There were evil rumours that a Dartmoor picture might substitute this year, but they were suppressed when it was pointed out that we have a picture in the archive from last year of a place with the word "Pillow" in its name.

Pillowell is a small village towards the southern end of the Forest of Dean on the road which links Bream, Whitecroft and Yorkley. (That helps, doesn't it?) It is something of a linear community, stretching up a small valley along this road with various services (Post Office, school, bus stop) scattered along the way. At the southern end is the area where Pillowell Colliery - the principal employer for the immediate area until closure in 1965 - once stood, along with the ruins of Pillowell Viaduct - a 35-yard-long affair of no particular note.

Nowadays Pillowell is, like all other Forest of Dean communities, a bit of a dormitory village for those who want to live in the middle of nowhere with all the comforts of former industrial areas. The local bus service is minimal and the roads are shabby, but Pillowell is an attractive location with a homely name.

This balmy evening scene comes courtesy of the Annual Order of the Bed Stupidly Long Walk Around the Forest of Dean. Each Annual Walk begins on an unspecified summer Saturday with the 06:12 train from Cardiff Central to Cheltenham Spa and culminates at Lydney station at some point before the last train of the day back to Cardiff (currently the 23:33). The trip is intended to be an unnecessary test of personal stamina and takes in as many pointless diversions up steep hills and through verdant undergrowth as possible. The 2010 walk was 33 miles long. The 2011 walk was going to be longer, but the Founder got up late, missed the 06:12 and had to settle for a little 24 mile affair. The 2012 walk will take place if anyone feels like it on a date to be announced after it has taken place.